WHAT MAKES A POEM?

it is his tremendous and impassioned philosophy
suffusing his work, as the blood suffuses the body,
that keeps "Leaves of Grass " forever fresh? We
do not go to Whitman for pretty flowers of poesy,
although they are there, but we go to him for his
attitude toward life and the universe, we go to
stimulate and fortify our souls — in short, for his
cosmic philosophy incarnated in a man.

What largeness of thought Tennyson brings to
all his themes ! There is plenty of iron in his blood,
though it be the blood of generations of culture,
and of an overripe civilization. We cannot say
as much of Swinburne's poetry or prose. I do
not think either will live. Bigness of words, and
fluency, and copiousness of verse cannot make up
for the want of a sane and rational philosophy.
Arnold's poems always have real and tangible
subject matter. His " Dover Beach " is a great
stroke of poetic genius. Let me return to Poe:
what largeness of thought did he bring to his sub-
jects ? Emerson spoke of him as " the jingle
man," and Poe, in turn, spoke of Emerson with
undisguised contempt. Poe's picture indicates a
neurotic person. There is power in his eyes, but the
shape of his head is abnormal, and a profound mel-
ancholy seems to rest on his very soul. What a
conjurer he was with words and meters and meas-
ures ! No substance at all in his " Raven," only
shadows — a wonderful dunce of shadows, all
£09d harpa and dippers- in comparison ?